SEIZED:: Sizzling HOT Detective Series (The Criminal Affairs Collection Book 2) by Taylor Lee

Author:Taylor Lee [Lee, Taylor]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: contemporary romance
Publisher: idesire
Published: 2017-10-23T18:30:00+00:00

Chapter 18

I’m telling you, hot stuff, you need to get your ass over here now! And yeah, I’ve got Ariel. She’s here, sleeping on Macy’s couch.” Francis added with a groan, “Or to be more precise, the poor kid is passed out on Macy’s couch.”

Now staring at the young girl lying on the threadbare sofa, Viviana sucked in a deep breath. She reminded herself that this was a good thing. Which was a little hard to do, seeing the yellowish-blue bruises marking Ariel’s pale face and neck. Swallowing the bile threatening to choke her, Viviana pinned the large black woman standing off to the side with a hard gaze. “Who did that to her, Macy?”

The buxom woman shrugged. “Sheet, Sergeant, how the hell would I know? When I found her, she was propped up against a dumpster. Lookin’ sorta like another pile of garbage, jest waitin’ to be hauled away. Francis had been askin’ about her, and when I recognized that it was Ariel, I called ’im.”

Viviana breathed a hard sigh and forced herself to count their blessings. Ariel was battered and clearly drunk or drugged out of her mind, probably both. Her disheveled clothes were ripped and dirty. The short skirt barely covered her ass, and the stretchy halter did a piss-poor job of containing her nubile breasts. Studying her, Viviana saw that it wasn’t only Ariel’s face that was battered. The telltale marks of a hard life on the street were all over her abused body. But she was here, somewhat safe, and if Viviana had anything to say about it, safe is where she was going to stay.

Sitting at Macy’s pockmarked kitchen table, Viviana held up her hands, refusing the coffee their stern hostess was offering from the tin coffee pot in her hand. Francis met her hard gaze and breathed a hard sigh. “I know, Viviana, it’s tough to see her like this, but she’s here. Hell, if Macy hadn’t called me, she’d still be out on the street. We managed to haul her up here, but she’s not so much as said a word. She’s been lying there looking like she’s half-dead for the last hour.”

Viviana nodded as she rose to her feet. “You’re right, Francis. At least we found her and she’s off the street.” Frowning at the hefty woman scowling at her, Viviana managed to soften her tone. “Thank you, Macy. Not only for bringing her here but for calling Francis. It’s essential that we talk to Ariel as soon as she’s awake.”

Macy snorted. “Don’t hold your breath, Sarge Moo-row. That little girl ain’t gonna be up to chatting for some time, sure as hell not for today.” She shrugged. “But, like I told Francis, I ain’t gonna let her leave my pad, no matter what she says when she wakes up.”

***

Viviana spent the next three hours canvassing the neighborhood. Calling on every one of her street contacts, she pieced together the last several weeks of Ariel’s benighted life. Apparently, when she had left the shelter, Ariel hit the streets hard.

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